Ceremony In Death

"You can get it temp, and edible. Six flavors on the market now. Apricot's real popular."

Potions and lotions, Eve thought. Smoke and mirrors. Rites and rituals. She opened her eyes to slits, saw Mavis and Trina huddled over a vial of gold liquid. Mavis with her neon hair, she thought with odd affection, Trina with her pink frizz.

Weird sisters.

Weird sisters, she thought again and sat up. Trina let out another hiss.

"Back down, Dallas. You got two minutes left."

"Mavis, you said you used to run a psychic con."

"Sure." Mavis fluttered her newly painted neon nails. "Madam Electra sees all, knows all. Or Ariel, the sad-eyed sprite." She dipped her head, managed to look delicate and forlorn. "I guess I had about six grifts on that theme."

"You could spot somebody pulling the same grift?"

"Shit, are you kidding? From three blocks with sunshades on."

"You were good," Eve considered. "I never saw you in that gig, but you were good in the others."

"You busted me."

"I'm better." Eve flashed a smile and felt the glop on her face ooze. "Listen; there's this place you could check out for me," she began as Trina marched over and shoved her back into the horizontal. "Both of you," she added, eyeing Trina.

"Hey, is this a cop deal?"

"Maybe."

"Frigid," Trina said and pushed Eve back toward the rinsing bowl.

"You could scope it out." Eve squeezed her eyes shut as water flooded. "See if you can get the clerk – her name's Jane – to talk. Give me a rundown. They don't come clean with cops."

"Who does?" Trina wanted to know.

"I want impressions," Eve continued. "You're interested in herbs, in mind expansion, love potions, sex enhancers. Soothers."

"Illegals?" It didn't take Mavis long to catch on. "You think they might be dealing?"

"It's a possibility I need to confirm or eliminate. You could spot it every bit as quick as an undercover. And you could spot a grift. If they're hosing customers. If they're playing any cons. The money's coming from somewhere."

"This could rock, Mavis." Trina gri

"Decent. I thought it was Dr. Holmes, though."

Eve closed her eyes again.

Must be the fumes, she decided.

– =O=-***-=O=-

When she arrived home, Mavis and Trina were there, entertaining Roarke with their exploits. Eve scooped up the cat and followed the laughter.

"I bought this lotion to rub on," Trina was saying. "It's supposed to bring out the animal in men. Like pheromones." She stuck her long arm under Roarke's nose. "What's it do for you?"

"If I wasn't married to a woman who carries a weapon, I'd…" He trailed off, gri

"You could finish the thought," Eve told him and dumped Galahad in his lap.

"I'll wait until you're unarmed."

"Dallas, it was so, so decent." Mavis popped up, waving her glass of wine so that the straw-colored liquid sloshed to the rim. "I can't wait to get home and tell Leonardo. But Trina and I, we wanted to grab some nutrition, you know, and come right over and report. You should see all the stuff I bought."

She started to dive into one of several shopping bags with the Spirit Quest logo. Eve resisted groaning and tugged Mavis's arm. "Talk now, show later. I must have lost my mind, sending the two of you in there. I tell you," she said whirling to Roarke. "It's the fumes in those places. That's what makes people sit there and let themselves be shaved and painted and pierced."

His eyes clouded briefly. "Pierced? Where, exactly?"

"Oh, she wouldn't go for the nipple job." Trina waved a hand. "Said she'd zap me if I came near her with the jabber."

"Good girl," Roarke murmured. "I'm proud of your restraint."

Because her head was starting to ache, Eve poured herself a glass of wine. "Did the two of you do anything in there but spend your credits?"

"We had readings," Mavis told her. "Genuinely iced. I've got an adventurous soul, and my narcissism is balanced by a generous heart."

Eve couldn't help it; she laughed. "You don't have to be psychic to read that one, Mavis. You just have to have eyes. You did go in dressed like that, right?"

Mavis dangled her neon sneaker. "Sure. Jane, the clerk, was real helpful, seemed to know her herbs. We judged her sincere, right Trina?"

"Jane was sincere," Trina agreed, soberly. "Kinda dull. I could fix her up with a couple sessions. A little highlighter, some body work. Now, the goddess, hard to improve on that one."

"Isis." Eve sat up. "She was there?"

"She came out of the back while we were doing the herb thing," Mavis put in. "I was saying how I wanted something to improve my performance level, boost my stage energy. See, when you're working a grift, you hang better if you believe the con. So if you can do true, it's mag."

"I was looking for sex stuff." Trina smiled sinuously. "Stuff to attract men, lift sexual performance. And I said how I had this stressful job. Kept me tense and edgy. Over-the-counters just weren't cutting it for me. So I thought they might have something more potent, and I didn't mind the cost."

"They had lots of blends." Mavis took up the story. "I didn't see anything off. Fact is, she said how drugs weren't the answer. What we wanted was the natural way. Like holistic."

"Holistic," Trina agreed. "We nudged her, flashed credits and stuff, but she wasn't buying. Or I guess that would be selling."

"The Amazon Queen went into the back." Mavis picked up the story. "Came back with this mix." Hair flying, Mavis dug into her shopping bag, tossed the smaller, clear bag to Eve. "Said I should sample it, and wouldn't charge me. She wants me to let her know if it worked for me. You can test it out, but I'd say it's clean."

"Who gave you the reading?"

"Isis. She didn't look too keen when she came in." Mavis tipped back her glass. "We were playing it up, you know. I went with the wide-eyed giggle act. Oohed and aahed a lot over the stock."

Eve shifted her gaze to the shopping bags. "I see you carried the act through."

"I liked the stuff." Mavis gri

"Tourma-something.''

"Tourmaline," Roarke provided.

"Yeah, right. Tourmaline. She steered me away, said it was for relaxing, for soothing, and if I wanted energy, I should go for the orange one. For, like, vitality."

"More expensive?" Eve assumed.

"No, cheaper. Way cheaper. She said how the green one wasn't for me. She thought I had a friend who could use it, someone close to me who carried too much stress. But she should choose it for herself, when she was ready."

Eve grunted, frowned.

"Then she gave us a reading. Mega. She said how she was glad we'd come in. She'd needed the positive energy. She wouldn't charge us for the readings. I liked her, Dallas. She hasn't got the eyes of a grifter."

"Okay, thanks. I'll check out the package." One way to make money, Eve mused, was to round up repeat customers. And a sure way to insure repeaters was to addict them.

"We got to make it." Mavis was up again, gathering her bags. "I bought this candle for romance. I want to see if it works. See you Tuesday night."

"Tuesday?"

Mavis tapped her platform sneaker. "Our Halloween party, Dallas. You said you'd come."

"I must have been drunk."

"No, you weren't. Nine o'clock, our place. Everybody's coming. I even tagged Feeney. See you."

"Loosen up," Trina advised as she strolled out. "Wear a costume."

"Not in this lifetime," Eve muttered. "Well." She bounced the small bag of leaves and seeds in her hand. "That was probably a monumental waste of time."

"They enjoyed themselves. And you'll feel better once you analyze that mix."